


Stopped

by dreamsxape



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 10:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsxape/pseuds/dreamsxape
Summary: This is the story of what happened after The Flash was stopped in his tracks. After an accident forces Barry to hang up his suit and go back to being Barry Allen, the nerdy forensic scientist, he is faced with a whole new set of challenges. From his physical limitations, to mourning the loss of The Flash, he struggles to accept his new situation. And so does the rest of Team Flash.





	Stopped

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a rewrite of an old fic I wrote a few years ago. I had always wanted to revisit it but never got around to it. And considering my writing has changed a lot over the last few years, I decided to start over! Hope you enjoy it!

Barry’s eyes fluttered open to the familiar white room of the S.T.A.R. Labs infirmary, the stale scent of bleach cleaners hitting his nose immediately. He had no recollection of what had brought him there, which wasn’t totally unusual. What was interesting about this instance, however, was that the room was empty. Typically, there was at least one person—usually Iris—waiting by his side for him to wake up.

  
He was in a fog. The few thoughts he had in his head were floating around, and hazy at best. He couldn’t feel anything either, which probably meant whatever injury he had had already healed. This was good, it meant he would have a short recovery time and would be back in the field in no time. Strangely enough, he almost felt as though he was floating, kind of like that time he was on morphine when he broke his arm in the tenth grade.

  
He heard the door open, and footsteps begin to approach him. He tried to sit up to see who it was but he immediately felt a jolt of pain shoot up his back, radiating pain through his body, causing him to groan out loud.

  
“Barry!” Victoria’s familiar voice called, as she rushed to his bedside. Victoria October was a surgeon at Central City Hospital. She began specializing in meta human medicine not long after the particle accelerator explosion, after many metas were having health problems related to their powers. She ended up helping the S.T.A.R. Labs team as Barry needed more serious medical attention, and eventually became a permanent fixture. The fact that she was here instead of Caitlin meant that he had some sort of operation, which usually just meant having to rebreak and set a bone that had healed before he got back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

  
“You’re awake,” she observed, letting out a breath of relief.

Barry simply groaned in response, as he still attempted to sit up, trying to fight the pain that was still running through him. So much for a quick recovery.

“No, don’t try to sit up, I can lift the bed for you,” she told him, pressing a button on the side of the bed, slowly raising it to a sitting position. “How are you feeling?”

“Kind of foggy,” he said, a dazed look in his eyes. The pain had subsided, now that he wasn’t trying to move. His head, however, was still in its spinning fog. “And a little dizzy.”

“Sorry about that,” she began speaking, while checking the fluid bag on his IV. “I made some alterations to a morphine compound so that your metabolism wouldn’t burn it off so quickly. Are you in pain?

Barry shook his head.

“Well I’m glad it’s working,” she said, biting her lip. He appeared to have no idea why he was here. Had he had any recollection of what had happened, he likely would have been asking when he was going to be able to run again.

“Barry, do you remember what happened?” Victoria asked, staring at him with worried eyes, but Barry was too fogged up to even notice her concern.

“Nope,” he said, popping the “p” sound as he shook his head. The last thing her remembered was ordering coffee at Jitters with Iris before they had to work, but even that memory seemed fuzzy.

Victoria took a deep breath and looked down at Barry, who had become mesmerized by the screen displaying his heartbeat. At least she finally got the morphine right. At least they got one win today. She stayed silent for a moment. This was the last moment Barry would know himself to be The Flash, she was having trouble letting that moment end.

“Barry,” she said softly, to get his attention.

“Hmm?” He turned to look at her, his eyes glassy and still a little lost from the drugs.

“Are you sure you don’t know what got you here?”

Barry simply shook his head in response.

Victoria took in a deep breath before speaking. “You were fighting a meta at that abandoned firehouse on the edge of the city. And while you were fighting him he…” Victoria lost her words. She drew in another deep breath, attempting to recollect her thoughts, searching for the right words. “I’m so sorry, Barry.”

“What are you talking about, Vicky?” His words slurred slightly, he seemed to be completely unaware of her emotions. Maybe she made the morphine a bit too strong.

Victoria swallowed thickly, before walking around the bed to Barry’s right side, pulling the blanket off from his leg

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, her eyes glassing over with tears as she looked up at Barry waiting for his reaction.

Sobriety crashed over Barry as he saw what had happened. He still had no memory of what happened, or the meta he fought. But it didn’t matter. It’s not like he would fight that meta again. It didn’t matter because he knew in that moment he could never be The Flash again.

He knew because his leg ended right above where his knee was supposed to be. Whatever happened in that fight, he had lost his leg, and super speed didn’t matter if he couldn’t run. He was no longer The Flash. He was just Barry Allen again.

“Barry, please say something,” Victoria begged, after a long, brutal silence. Barry remained silent, staring at his leg. She could feel the weight of the tension in the room on her, feeling like her chest was being crushed by it.

“Please leave,” he finally said, his voice soft and cracked, his eyes still fixated on his leg.

“Barry…”

“Please,” he insisted, still refusing to look up at his friend.

“Do you want me to get Iris?” She offered, hoping that maybe that would help.

“No… please just leave,” he asked again, beginning to choke on his words. Victoria bit her lip, before hesitantly turning around and walking towards the door. She wanted to turn and apologize one last time, but she knew it was no use. She had just ruined his life.


End file.
